Erdem Moralioglu’s Dinner at Morton’s

So how many balloons were needed to decorate Morton’s, the venue for last night’s Erdem Moralioglu party? “Ninety-seven!” declared Liz Goldwyn, who’d turned out to fete the designer at a dinner along with plenty of British fashion editors and a few American imports. “Perhaps guessing the number,” Goldwyn went on to say, “could be like that game where you have to decide how many candies are in the jar?” Well, sorry to say, Liz, but there would have been no going home with a prize for you if this had been a competition; her guesstimate was way off-base. Five-thousand—that’s how many balloons were inflated and then festooned across the façade of this old-school English restaurant, throughout the lobby, up the staircase, and at every place setting. The occasion was the Erdem show, which happened earlier that day, and Moralioglu’s special capsule resort collection for the London boutique Matches. Clearly there was still a little leftover fabric, which was turned into silk bracelets that were tied around the napkins, and which could then be knotted around the guests’ wrists. “We don’t want to keep everyone up late,” Moralioglu said, as the show schedule meant no one could sit down to eat until 10 p.m. But the dinner—heirloom-tomato salad, sea bass, and lavender-scented panna cotta—was served super fast. Still, Moralioglu had other plans for himself. As the next wave of guests arrived around midnight, he headed downstairs to join what was quickly turning into a dance party. And while the music could’ve drowned it out, it didn’t sound like a single balloon burst all night.